Agitator



A. E. HAUSE Jan. 18, 1955 'AGITATOR Filed April 8, 1952 INVENTOR.

BY W ATI'OIPNEY'Y- r 2,699,926 Patented Jan. 18, 1955 AGITATOR Allan E. Hause, Dayton, Ohio Application April 8, 1952, Serial No. 281,195

1 Claim. (Cl. 259-132) This invention relates generally to the class of agitation and is directed particularly to an improved machine for mixing and emulsifying liquids or mixed liquids and sol ds.

A principal object of the present invention is to provide an improved apparatus by means of which mixing or emulsion forming operations may be effected or by means of which the dispersion of solids in liquids may be more efficiently accomplished than is at present possible by the use of ball mills or similar equipment.

In the paint industry, for example, ball mills are employed for mixing paints or for grinding pigments in carrying liquids and such machines are large and cumbersome and expensive to operate due to the fact that they work slowly and require many hours to grind or mix a batch of paint.

The present machine is designed to accomplish the same and better results than are obtained by the use of the present ball mills, in much less time and with the expenditure of a great deal less power by a combined agitation and vibration action.

The present invention more particularly contemplates the employment of two or more concentric hollow frustoconical bodies of corrugated form disposed within a s\ iitable receptacle and operatively coupled with driv ng mechanism whereby such bodies are rotated in opposing directions, as a result of which the corrugations of the bodies which extend longitudinally thereof will function when those of one body pass the corrugations of the adjacent body to not only agitate the mixture in which the bodies are located but to impose high frequency radial vibratory motion to the mixture whereby to effect the desired mixing or emulsification.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent as the description of the same proceeds and the invention will be best understood from a consideration of the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings forming a part of the specification, with the understanding, however,',

that the invention is not to be limited to the exact details of construction shown and described since obvious modifications will occur to a person skilled in the art.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a vertical longitudinal sectional view through a machine constructed in accordance with the preferred invention.

Figure 2 is a transverse sectional view taken substantially on the line 22 of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a sectional view taken substantially on the line 3--3 of Figure 1 showing the arrangement of operating gears.

Figure 4 is a vertical sectional view through the mixing vanes and driving mechanism for the same.

Referring now more particularly to the drawing there is illustrated a receptacle of suitable size or capacity, supported upon suitable supporting standards or legs 12 and having a top or cover 14.

The bottom of the receptacle is provided with a suitable material discharge aperture 16 leading to a lead off pipe 18 controlled by a suitable valve 20.

Supported on the receptacle cover 14 is a framework 22 of suitable character and form to provide a gear chamber 24 which is covered by the head plate 26.

Mounted over and supported on the head plate 26 are spaced brackets 28 which in turn support a platform 30 which supports, by means of a spider 32, an electric motor 34.

The motor is mounted as shown so that the armature shaft which is designated 34a extends downwardly through the spider and is coupled in a suitable manner as indicated at 34b, with the upper end of a central shaft 36.

This shaft 36 extends downwardly through the platform 30, the gear chamber cover 26 and the receptacle cover 14 and passes axially through the receptacle to the lower part thereof where it is connected to a suitable bearing 38 which is supported upon a bridge 40 which rests upon the bottom of the receptacle over the outlet 16.

The reference characters 42, 44 and 46 designate respectively inner, intermediate and outer hollow frus-toconical beaters. These beaters are open top and bottom ashshown and are arranged concentrically one within the ot er.

As is most clearly shown in Figure 2 the beaters have walls of corrugated form, the corrugations running vertically or lengthwise of each beater body.

The inner beater 42 is operatively coupled with the shaft 36 by upwardly extending arms 42:: which are joined to a collar 4212 which is keyed to the shaft.

The bottom part of the inner beater is connected by legs 420 with a supporting collar 48.

Encircling the shaft 36 and rotating thereabout and also forming a bearing for the collar 48 is the bearing sleeve 50 which has the wide bottom flange 52 to which are connected supporting legs 44a which are connected with the bottom of the intermediate beater 44.

The top end of the beater 44 has a number of upwardly and inwardly converging arms 44b which are joined to an intermediate shaft 54 which extends upwardly around the shaft 36 into the upper part of the gear chamber 24.

Disposed beneath the bearing flange 52 and encircling and freely rotatable about the shaft 36 is a bearing member 56 of circular or disk form to the periphery of which are secured the supporting legs 46a which are connected with the lower end of the outer beater 46 as shown.

At the top of the beater 46 are the inwardly and upwardly converging arms 4612 which are operatively connected with an outer tubular shaft 58 which encircles the tubular shaft 34 and extends upwardly into the gear chamber 24 but terminates at an elevation below the upper end of the shaft 54.

Secured to the upper end of the shaft 54 is a gear 60 which overlies the upper end of the shaft 58 as shown and secured to the shaft 58, within the gear chamber 24, is a gear 62.

Extending through the gear chamber 24 in parallel relation with the shaft 36, and suitably rotatably supported, is a countershaft 64 which carries the three gears 66, 68 and 70, the gears 68 and 70 being within the chamber 24 While the gear 66 may be above the gear chamber cover 26 as illustrated.

The top gear 66 is in driving connection with a gear 72 which surrounds and is secured to the shaft 36 as shown while the gear 70 is in driving connection with the lower gear 62 which is mounted on the outer tubular shaft 58.

Suspended from the cover plate 26 of the gear chamber is a stub shaft 74 upon which is mounted for free rotation a small reversing gear 76 which is in operative connection with the gears 60 and 68.

From the foregoing it will be readily seen that when the motor 34 is operated the inner and outer beaters 42 and 46 will be rotated in the same direction as is clearly shown in Figure 3 where the shaft 36 and the gear 62 are shown by the arrows to be turning counterclockwise, while the gear 60 will be driven clockwise as illustrated or opposite to or against the inner and outer beater gears thus turning the intermediate beater 44 in the opposite direc tion to the beaters between which it is positioned.

Because of the manner of rotating adjacent beaters in opposite directions one to the other it will be seen that in addition to the beating action which will be imposed upon liquids within the receptacle 10, the corrugated form of the beaters will impose an inward and outward vibratory motion to the liquid as the opposing corrugations of the adjacent beaters pass one another.

As a result of the novel formation of the present machine it is possible to mix paints, enamels or other heavy liquids having pigments, in such a manner as to thoroughly beat and distribute the pigments to form a smooth suspension thereof in the carrying liquids, in much less time than would be required to accomplish the same results in the present ball mills or other mixers.

While reference has been made particularly to the mixing of paints it is to be understood that the present machine can be operated with efliciency to mix other liquids where distribution of solids through liquids is desired or where it is desired to form emulsions or the like.

It is also to be pointed out that while the illustration and description have been applied to a machine employing three of the rotary beaters, the invention is not limited to such construction since fewer or more beater units may be employed as may be required. In this connection also it is to be pointed out that vessels of any size may be used and while one or more multiple units can be used in the vessel, it is not only the size of the vessel which determines the number of agitators used but also the product to be handled would have a definite bearing on the number of agitators in the vessel. In other words, if a light slurry is being mixed in a rather large tank a certain number of the agitators would be required whereas if a heavy paste like material is being mixed in a smaller diameter tank a larger number of agitators would be required than would be employed in the large tank.

Regardless of the size of the structure or the number of agitators used the essential and novel action referred to will be obtained by the employment of agitators of the form set forth and rotated relatively as described, namely, that there will not only be obtained a violent agitation of the liquid but also high frequency vibration of the liquid by means of which the desirable results are obtained.

I claim:

In an agitator, an angular support, an anti-friction hearing on said support, a shaft rising from said support through the bearing, a plurality of concentrically spaced beater elements positioned about said shaft, said beaters being vertically elongated and of increasing length outwardly from said shaft, collars superimposed on said bearing and upon each other, the uppermost collar being keyed to said shaft, divergent arms connecting the lower ends of the beaters with said collars, a tubular shaft surrounding the upper end portion of the first shaft, a second tubular shaft surrounding the first tubular shaft, another collar carried by the first shaft below the first tubular shaft, convergent arms connecting the upper ends of the inner of the heaters with the said another collar, other convergent arms connecting the intermediate and outer of the beaters with the first and second tubular shafts respectively, and a gear mechanism at the upper ends of said shafts and acting to rotate the first shaft and the second tubular shafts in a reversed direction with respect to the direction of rotation of the first tubular shaft.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Edwards Feb. 13, 1951 

